HHS Awards $300M to Health Centers to Expand Primary Care Services

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will spend nearly $300 million to help thousands of health centers that have struggled to meet rising demand for primary care under ObamaCare.

Nearly 1,300 facilities nationwide will receive the grants, allowing them to hire about 4,700 primary care doctors full time, according to an HHS release Friday.

Those doctors will be able to treat about 1.5 million patients nationwide — and help others sign up for coverage. Health centers have been responsible for 6 million new signups over the last year, according to HHS.

“Health centers are a key part of how the Affordable Care Act is working to improve access to care for millions of Americans,” HHS chief Sylvia Burwell said in a release, adding that many of the patients who benefit could be receiving primary care for the first time.

Primary care physicians nationwide have experienced a surge under the Affordable Care Act, with at least 13 million people newly insured.

The federal government has already spent heavily to train more primary care doctors, adding about 2,300 new practitioners by 2016.